The tanks are tripping my breaker.

[Jacky12]

I have 8 tanks in this room: two 90g, a 110g, two 55g, a 125 g, a 75 g and a corner 44. The 75 g is cold water. The breaker tripped 3x in the last 2 weeks. I am wondering if it trips because several heaters are going on at the same time.

I see the options as follows: drill a hole through the wall behind the two 90s & power them from the adjacent room which is on a different breaker.

Move a few tanks to another room which I really don’t want to do.

Heat the room to 72-74. This would involve heating a few other rooms on the same thermostat that aren’t used. But electricity costs more than gas here, so it may be cost efficient.

Is there anyway to keep several heaters from turning on at the same time? (Assuming this is the issue) If some tanks were insulated on 3 sides would that help?

Thank you.

 

[Andy Sager]

I have 8 tanks in this room: two 90g, a 110g, two 55g, a 125 g, a 75 g and a corner 44. The 75 g is cold water. The breaker tripped 3x in the last 2 weeks. I am wondering if it trips because several heaters are going on at the same time.

I see the options as follows: drill a hole through the wall behind the two 90s & power them from the adjacent room which is on a different breaker.

Move a few tanks to another room which I really don’t want to do.

Heat the room to 72-74. This would involve heating a few other rooms on the same thermostat that aren’t used. But electricity costs more than gas here, so it may be cost efficient.

Is there anyway to keep several heaters from turning on at the same time? (Assuming this is the issue) If some tanks were insulated on 3 sides would that help?

Thank you.

To make sure it's your equipment and not your breaker, add up all the amps used from all the equipment ( it should be listed on the equipment itself or the boxes they came in) and see if it exceeds your wiring's /breaker's capabilities. The problem could be just one item that is faulty. I am having that exact issue with a piece of machinery from my business. I keep replacing parts and wires trying to figure it which one it is. :^s You might also want to check all your heaters for cracks causing water leaks into the tubes. In reality, a cracked heater should only put a charge into the water but you never know with today's technology.

There's nothing you can do about all your heaters going on at once besides giving them a reason not to turn on and that means warming the room in general vs the individual tanks. As for heating unused rooms, why can't you close or seal off the vents in those rooms?

 

[Ed Pursell]

Jacky, hope you get some “sparkies” (electricians) chiming in. It’s a good possibly that’s what’s happening, meaning you are at maximum capacity for the breaker rating, 15, 20amps depending on what the room breaker is rated for. It’s all about adding amps up with what everything is drawing in amperage at the same time, seems like you are at the max rating and could be over drawing on the rating if 2 or 3 heaters kick on the same time. So your breaker is working properly. If you drill a hole in the wall which to me is not good, you could run into the same issue with the other breaker depending on the draw of your other room appliances. If there’s not much draw from your other room, you could jump off a receptacle with certified cable and mount a metal/plastic box and receptacle in your fish room. Seems to me you are drawing too much amperage for everything you got plugged in. Sorry for writing a book, hope you understand.. No extension cords either.

 

[Jacky12]

Thanks, Andy and Ed. The breaker for this room is 15 amps. So if we assume the tanks are averaging 200 W, that would take me over, right? I’m just estimating the 200 W. Some are more & some less. There’s nothing going on in the adjacent room. It’s a guest room & I hate guests. Some of the vents in this house don’t fully close.

OK, no extension cords! That was my idea. The husband said doing what Ed suggests is well within our handyman’s skill set & that’s how the job should be done. But taking a closer look at the heaters is a good idea. Many of them came to me used. For all I know, I could have Elvis Presley’s childhood fish equipment in my collection.

 

[Andy Sager]

Thanks, Andy and Ed. The breaker for this room is 15 amps. So if we assume the tanks are averaging 200 W, that would take me over, right? I’m just estimating the 200 W. Some are more & some less. There’s nothing going on in the adjacent room. It’s a guest room & I hate guests. Some of the vents in this house don’t fully close.

OK, no extension cords! That was my idea. The husband said doing what Ed suggests is well within our handyman’s skill set & that’s how the job should be done. But taking a closer look at the heaters is a good idea. Many of them came to me used. For all I know, I could have Elvis Presley’s childhood fish equipment in my collection.

Another option would be creating another circuit in the fish rooms using heavier wire and a 20 amp breaker so that you can divide your equipment between the 2 circuits instead of having it all on one. 15 amp lines are kinda small to be honest. I live in an old single wide and the only 15 amp lines in my house are for the overhead lighting in different rooms. Everything else is 20 amps or higher.

 

[Jacky12]

I just went downstairs to see the breaker panels. There is a big main panel and a much smaller subpanal. The subpanel supplies this room. It has (2) 20s and 4 (15s). The big panel has several breakers, I lost count, but there are (2) 50s, (6) 40s, 2 (30s) and many 15s and 20s. The problem I suppose is I turned a bedroom into a fish room without any thought to the electricity. Your suggestion sounds like a lot of work, Andy, and since I’m only a little over, I’ll draw from the adjacent room.

 

[Andy Sager]

I just went downstairs to see the breaker panels. There is a big main panel and a much smaller subpanal. The subpanel supplies this room. It has (2) 20s and 4 (15s). The big panel has several breakers, I lost count, but there are (2) 50s, (6) 40s, 2 (30s) and many 15s and 20s. The problem I suppose is I turned a bedroom into a fish room without any thought to the electricity. Your suggestion sounds like a lot of work, Andy, and since I’m only a little over, I’ll draw from the adjacent room.

All depends on where your breaker box is in relation to the fish room. You could use the existing conduit from your electric to run new wires to the breaker box and just add a new breaker. You just need to add a new outlet box alongside the existing one. I do it all the time.

 

[Jacky12]

Sounds good to me. I’ll run that by the menfolk.